Psalm 44: Dusty Souls

The Hebrew word pronounced aw-dawm-ah means Earth - the planet overall, but also the soil. The word is variously translated as earth, ground or land. Humanity, male and female, were called aw-dawm (from which the name Adam originated; see The Thinker From The Soil) because they were created from aw-dawm-ah - the male directly, then the female from the man (see The Only Child Of The Garden). It was from aw-dawm-ah that all "souls" were created (see What Does The Bible Really Say About Your Soul?).

"2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:4-9 KJV)

Humans were given to sustain and replenish their physical lives from the plants that grew from the very same soil from which humans became living physical souls (note the appropriate similarity between soil and soul). When humans created sinners, by themselves becoming a noxious life form from the soil, other corrupt life forms, "weeds," also began to grow (see Who Created Weeds?).

"3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:17-19 KJV)

The true and actual meaning of soul is a physical creature that is subject to death. The dead however are all awaiting one or the other of two major resurrections - one that will occur on the day of Christ's return (see What Will Happen On Your Next Birthday?), the other 1,000 years later (see Empty Cemeteries). Those who will be resurrected physical will, like the first humans, become (i.e. be restored as) a living soul from the "dust" of the Earth.

"37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
37:2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
37:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?

And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

37:4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
37:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
37:6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
37:8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
37:10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
37:13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
37:14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD." (Ezekiel 37:1-14 KJV)

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
44:2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
44:3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

44:4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
44:5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
44:6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
44:7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
44:10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
44:11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
44:12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.

44:13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
44:14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
44:15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
44:16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

44:17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
44:18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
44:19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

44:20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
44:22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

771: Upon the death of his brother Carloman, Charlemagne becomes sole ruler of the Frankish Empire - that grew into the so-called "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (see The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation).

871: The forces of Ethelred of Wessex were defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Reading.

1493: Christopher Columbus set sail from "America" (all 4 voyages of Columbus actually did not go beyond the islands of the Caribbean Sea) to return to Spain on his first voyage of discovery (for a map of the four voyages of Columbus, see Thanksgiving In History and Prophecy).

1642: King Charles I of England ordered the arrest of members of Parliament, triggering England's civil war.

1643: Isaac Newton was born. The English physicist and mathematician is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), which was first published in 1687, laid the foundation for much of modern physics. Newton also made great contributions to optics (the Newtonian telescope, an excellent design that is still in use today, is named after him; the author's Newtonian telescope is shown in the photograph) and shares credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the invention of the infinitesimal calculus.

1754: King's College was founded in New York. After the revolution of the New England colonies, the college was expropriated by the rebels and renamed as Columbia University (after Christopher Columbus - who never set foot in mainland North America; see the Columbus entry, above, for the year 1493).

1861: The Confederate States of America were formed, first consisting of South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana - in effect, a rebellion against the states that had rebelled against Britain.

1863: During the U.S. Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln ordered General Ulysses Grant to revoke Grant's infamous "General Order Number 11" that expelled all Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

1912: The moon made its closest approach to the earth in the 20th century, 438,249 km. / 272,315 miles.

1944: The British Fifth Army launched an attack upon Monte Cassino, Italy. On the same day, Soviet troops crossed the former Polish border.

1948: Burma withdrew from the British Commonwealth and became independent after more than 100 years of British rule.

1951: During the Korean War, Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul, South Korea from United Nations forces.

1990: Panamanian President Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. invasion forces after taking refuge in the Vatican Embassy. Noriega's diplomatic status (he was a President of a sovereign nation) and prisoner of war rights (Noriega was a military officer in the Panamanian army), according to longstanding laws of civilized nations (including the Geneva Convention), were ignored; he was taken and imprisoned in jails for U.S. common criminals.

2010: The Burj Khalifa, in the United Arab Emirates, was officially opened. At 829 meters / 2,723 feet in height, it is the world's tallest building (in comparison to former record holders, the World Trade Center Towers in New York were 1,368 feet high and Canada's CN Tower is 1,815 feet tall).